(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for thoroughly extracting only the pulp from citrus fruits, such as mandarin oranges or tangerines. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an apparatus of the character in which a plurality of clamps are mounted on the periphery of a rotary drum to hold the halves of the fruits each divided into two across the core, with the cut surfaces exposed, a rotating shaft is located opposite to one of the clamps in gripping position and substantially aligned to the core of each clamped half of the fruits for rotation about the common axis, and a nozzle having an opening provided radially with respect to the core of each halved fruit is attached to the end of the rotating shaft, whereby the pulp in the form of separate juice sacs is forced out of the halves by a jet of fluid from the nozzle.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
For the extraction of mandarin orange or tangerine juice it is necessary to take out only the pulp from the fruits. An apparatus for separating and taking out the pulp from citrus fruits has already been proposed (Japanese patent application No. 130592/77). The apparatus, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, holds divided halves A' of tangerines by means of holding slats which, in turn, are supported at both ends by a pair of endless chains 2, 2; drives the chains to convey the fruits, with the cut surfaces directed downward, over and in sliding contact with a net 3; and subjects the moving fruits to jets of a fluid from injection nozzles 5 installed in banks on pipes beneath the net 3, so that only the pulp is forced out of the cut halves by the jets. The embodiment of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 uses stationary nozzles 5 on fixed pipes, and the embodiment in FIG. 2 makes the pipes 4 rollable from side to side within a predetermined angle, with consequent swinging of the nozzles 5. In the latter case the jets of fluid are directed against wider areas of the cut surfaces of the halved tangerines A'.
With such a prior art apparatus the effect of pulp extraction is not high for the reasons now to be described, and part of the pulp often remains unremoved from the peel after the fluid injection. Since the injection nozzles 5 for directing the jets of fluid against the cut surfaces of halved tangerines A', while the fruits are being continuously moved forward by the conveyors, are simply fixed or swung from side to side, the jets are only locally applied to the cut surfaces. Therefore, any attempt to improve the pulp-extracting capacity by increasing the speed of the chains 2 will fail because it hampers thorough removal of the pulp from the individual tangerines.